I wish you could have been there with me to see the excited faces of clergy and laity — joined together as living stones to make up the church, the body of Christ here on earth.

And I think this season of Advent was a beautiful time for us to dedicate our mother church, as we prepare to celebrate the anniversary of his coming to us as a child.

At the heart of the dedication was the consecration of the altar with water, oil of chrism, incense and beautiful prayer. Cardinal George reminded us of the Jewish burial custom that would have been followed when Christ was taken down from the cross. His body would have been washed of the stains of his terrible wounds suffered for our sake. He would have been anointed with oil, and wrapped with cloth in which was placed incense and perfumes.

This new altar received the same treatment Jesus himself did and becomes a powerful symbol of his presence whenever we gather as church.

As the dedication began, Archbishop George J. Lucas sprinkled the altar with holy water and then walked the entire Cathedral, sprinkling us all with water. It was a beautiful reminder that we are washed into the body of Christ by our baptism.

He then poured chrism on top of the altar and liberally spread it over the entire surface. Next, a section of each of the four walls was anointed. I felt that all present were being anointed as the four corners were being signed with chrism.

A large pot of burning charcoal was placed on the altar and incense placed in it. Two censors were brought out and the altar itself was incensed. Then, all those present were incensed. Have you ever wondered why on special feast days we incense the gifts and the altar and then incense the assembly? Just as we honor the altar as a symbol of Christ we honor you as living members of the body of Christ with incense. And we pay that same honor to those our Lord has called home when we incense the casket at the end of the Mass of Christian Burial.

Washed, anointed, honored with incense. I have rarely felt a stronger sense of church or of the presence of Christ in a gathering as I did on that day.

Washed, anointed, honored with incense — this is our life and our story as Christians. I fervently pray that during this Advent season we can draw not only grace but hope for our troubled world from our own gatherings around our own altars, consecrated to God and symbol of Jesus present among us.